1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to food processing, and in particular to cocoa bean processing and its products.
2. Background Information
Test-tube studies by German scientists recently showed that the tetramers found in chocolate were highly beneficial in curbing the type of oxidation damage to blood vessel walls that arise from free-radicals in the blood stream. Chocolate""s tetramers and larger procyanidins also help relax the inner surface of blood vessels, according to studies in isolated tissues headed by C. Tissa Kappagoda of the University of California, Davis School of Medicine.
Additionally, cocoa flavonoids have been found to be more powerful than vitamins, such as ascorbic acid, in limiting the oxidation of cholesterol circulating in low-density lipoproteins (LDLs) and very-low-density lipoproteins. December 1999 JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD CHEMISTRY Atherosclerosis studies have suggested that oxidation of these lipoproteins is an essential step in the creation of artery-clogging plaque.
The primary family of flavonoids contributing to the antioxidant activity of chocolates is the procyanidins. Their basic unit is a three-ring molecular structure. The mature cocoa bean contains pairs known as dimers, triads known as trimers, quartets known as tetramers, and larger ensembles of these units.
Cesar G. Fraga of the University of Buenos Aires hails the procyanidins"" antioxidant activity. In work funded by Mars, he has demonstrated a rise of chocolate-derived procyanidins in the blood of men and women very shortly after eating semisweet-chocolate candies. Dr. Fraga""s team found that blood sampled 2 hours after candy consumption protected its circulating lipids from oxidation. The more chocolate eaten, the better the protection, according to a fair reading of the study.
According to Dr. Fraga, earlier test-tube studies indicate that the procyanidins may function as a first line of defense against damaging oxidantsxe2x80x94sparing vitamin C and other antioxidant vitamins that would otherwise be destroyed in the reactions. In these experiments, while all of the tested procyanidins appeared active, the pentamer offered the best protection.
As beneficial as the chocolate-derived compounds described above are, when conventionally processed, chocolate-based foodstuffs contain substantially lower levels of these compounds than do raw cocoa beans.
Fermentation and drying of cocoa beans bring about complex chemical changes, most notably, the formation of components required for the development of the characteristic flavor and color of cocoa. Fermentation, however, also significantly decreases the concentrations of polyphenolic compounds in the fermented cocoa beans, relative to the concentrations of polyphenolic compounds in unfermented or under-fermented beans.
Such traditional cocoa bean processing steps as roasting also reduces the cocoa polyphenol concentration in the cocoa powder or chocolate liquors produced thereby. The cocoa polyphenol concentration of chocolate also decreased during manufacture. The concentration of polyphenols in finished chocolates is approximately 20% to 60% lower than that calculated based on the polyphenol concentration of the cocoa powder or chocolate liquor used to prepare the chocolate.
In summary, conventional processing techniques do not provide food products, especially cocoa-containing confectioneries, that adequately retain the polyphenol concentrations of cocoa raw materials as would be necessary to benefit from the health benefits of such compounds.
In view of the foregoing, it would be of inestimable value to society to provide some method by which the concentrations of polyphenols, and in particular cocoa polyphenols, could somehow be conserved through the processing steps that lead to finished, cocoa-based foodstuffs.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a processing technique to prepare food products and confectioneries, particularly cocoa-containing confectioneries, that will conserve the cocoa polyphenol concentration of cocoa powders, chocolate liquors, or extracts thereof, in the finished, shelf-ready product
It is another object of the present invention to provide a processing technique to prepare food products and confectioneries, particularly cocoa-containing confectioneries, containing polyphenolic acids and other beneficial compounds which are healthier than those existing cocoa containing confectioneries.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved cocoa containing confectionery which has more bioavailable polyphenol compounds than that of cocoa containing confectioneries which are processed by conventional methods.
It is another object of the present invention to provide improved cocoa containing confectioneries which have greater ability to quench oxidative stress and destroy free radicals than cocoa containing confectioneries which are processed by conventional methods.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved cocoa containing confectionery product which yields a more healthful end product than existing cocoa containing confectionery products.
In satisfaction of these and related objects, the method of the present invention avoids the significant and detrimental losses of polyphenols that occur during conventional cocoa processing by removing a significant amount of said polyphenols prior to fermentation and/or roasting and then adding a portion of these polyphenols back. The process of removing polyphenols before fermentation and/or roasting, and then adding them back after fermentation and/or roasting, yields products with significantly higher cocoa polyphenol concentrations than like products which are produced through conventional methods.
The process or method of the present invention is very simple, yet it is wholly unknown in the cocoa-related industries.
Raw cocoa beans are soaked in water prior to fermentation or roasting. At present, the process is believed to work equally well on cocoa beans as when used with coffee beans according to a like process of the same invention as the present one (subject of co-pending patent application(s)). Therefore, the following processes, although references are to coffee beans and beverages made from coffee beans, are illustrative of the processing of cocoa beans according to the present and herein claimed invention and of analogous, beneficial results which are to be experienced by practitioners of the present invention. Further research may reveal variations of the processes, with respect to coffee beans and/or cocoa beans, but such variations (time, heat, relative volumes, etc.) will amount to xe2x80x9cfine tuningxe2x80x9d and will certainly reside within the scope of the present invention as claimed.